Local AM station WBZH goes silent'

UPPER POTTSGROVE — WBZH AM, the nonprofit radio station that arose from the ashes of WPAZ, has gone dark, the man who owns the station’s license confirmed Wednesday.

It’s been a little more than a year since Rick Rodgers, Ross Landy, Brian James and Dave Devlin launched the radio station, which had an extensive community outreach effort and local programming.

“We didn’t have much of a sales force and we couldn’t seem to convince the local businesses to buy into the idea of advertising on the radio,” Devlin, the station’s program director, said when reached by The Mercury Wednesday evening.

As a result, “the group fell behind on their payments and the station is currently dark,” said Charles Loughery, who runs Four Rivers Broadcasting.

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That was the company that purchased the license and the Maugers Mill Road studio from Scott Broadcasting which, for decades, had run WPAZ radio from that location.

Loughery said the amount the station operators were behind on their payments was “into five figures.”

Devlin said although the operators knew the back payments could trigger the termination of their agreement, they were not prepared for “the suddenness” of the end. “We were pursuing new investors up until the last minute, but none of them panned out,” he said.

As a result, no statement was prepared ahead of time to let listeners know that Tuesday was the station’s last broadcast.

Loughery said he was sorry the efforts at WBZH did not work out, but said others, including members of the Scott family, have expressed an interest in the station.

Also among those interested are the operators of another nonprofit AM station, WRDV, that has a studio in Hatboro and plays music from World War II and “oldies” Rock and Roll.

Loughery serves on that company’s board of directors and said it is his understanding that some of the WBZH programming may be revived under their ownership, if that deal is finalized. Regardless, “there’s no shortage of people interested,” said Loughery.

They may also be interested to know that the station’s old call letters “are parked in a safe place,” he said.

Less safe is the license that will allow the station to continue broadcasting.

Loughery said if the station remains “silent for 12 calendar months,” then the Federal Communications Commission revokes the license and it cannot be brought back.

However, that’s unlikely Loughery said. He predicted the station will be back up and broadcasting “in a few months.”

Devlin hopes that’s true. “It’s my understanding there is a buyer coming in that wants to continue some of the programming, so we’re expecting to hear from them and we’re kind of in limbo right now,” said Devlin.

Also, Devlin said, “we’re exploring the option of broadcasting on the Internet only.”

Broadcasting on the Internet apparently has some foundation, said Devlin, given the fact that during the day, listeners would sometimes “have buffering issues” when listening to the broadcast through the WBZH website.

“That’s because we were bumping up against our limit of 1,000 listeners at one time,” Devlin said.

Before issuing a statement on the future of the station, Devlin said the operators would “like to have some concrete information about where things go from here.”

About the Author

Evan Brandt has worked for The Mercury since November 1997. His beat includes Pottstown, the surrounding townships and the Pottstown and Pottsgrove school districts, as well as other varied general topics like politics, the environment and education. Reach the author at ebrandt@pottsmerc.com
or follow Evan on Twitter: @PottstownNews.